Grey Haven

Don't talk to the other Ventrue.

Conversing while a hooker dies

23

JAN/12

Lena turns to Connell, Dahlia, and Katrina. “I have an errand to run. It will only take about 20 minutes. I can meet you guys somewhere.”

On the way to drop David off to hunt we will share information about what we saw/did/learned while apart. Once we are sitting there waiting while David murders a hooker. “Do any of you think you can figure out what’s in this box without opening it? Lena? Katrina?”

OOC: Technically, Vito said that he would know if you (Dahlia) opened it. This may indicate some kind of magical seal but since he used mental powers on Lena it may just mean that he can read Dahlia’s mind somehow to find out if she opened it. If it is the latter, then Lena can open it and not break the agreement. What does the box look like? How is it sealed? What are its dimensions?

Its about the size of a shoe box and weighs roughly three pounds. Its wrapped up in plan cardboard color paper, with a bow on it.

“I’m actually more worried about it maybe exploding or something. I’m sure that what’s in there isn’t nice… I just don’t know what sort of not nice it is.”

Connell: “We could just rip the damn thing open! I’m sure as hell not worried about insulting this sick fuck’s fine sensibilities. After what you discovered upstairs that Italian piece of shit is already on my list. …and if it’s a bomb it better sure as hell be a good one because if I manage to walk away from it I’mma rip his spine out through his asshole and make a Giovanni puppet out of him”

Katrina: OOC: Can I smell anything from the box with heightened senses, Chris? “Don’t be hasty – that would be foolish beyond measure. I realize that we are presssed for time, but we cannot risk opening the box without some idea of its contents. We especially cannot risk it here, where the masquerade can so easily be broken.”

OOC – Very Tremere. And no, there is no scent

Katrina: OOC: Thanks ;) Any sounds? Also, is there any magical aura on the box that I can detect with Auspex 2 or Thaumaturgy 3? Or my Occult training? I have Perception + Empathy of 5 dice, Willpower 8, and Intelligence + Occult of 7 dice.

David: While everyone is trying to mess with this box Daivd sits down and starts sewing UPS in back of his coat might as well look the part

No scents er smells. If you shake it, there is a slight amount of movement. Something shifts a few centimeters when forcibly forced back and forth.

Further magical assessment proves there is no thaumaturgical enchantment upon it. It does radiate a muffled gray aura of some sort of magic.

Katrina: “I cannot smell or hear anything from the box other than the scents of paper and string. The box does not have a Thaumaturgical aura, but I do see a stange magical aura in a pale shade of grey. It is most likely Giovanni necromancy.”

Dahlia: “I do not believe that we should deliver it to anyone without knowing what’s inside, and I do not believe that we should open it in any populated area or have it in any populated area at midnight. It’s 10:30 now, so my thought is that we take it out into the swamp somewhere and you open it from afar… the same way you move that belt around… is that possible?” and “Lena… I don’t think any of us should be alone tonight… or really at all until we figure out what is going on with the Court, the Giovanni, and the various mobs. Can your chore wait until later this evening when one or more of us can go with you?”

Lena looks at Dahlia. “Honestly, I do not see what difference even an hour would make to our investigation. Surely once the evening has progressed we would find ourselves in another predicament with barely time to return to our havens for rest. You all are free to go to the swamp and use Katrina’s telekinesis to peek at Vito’s ire. It isn’t clear that doing Vito this little favor will allow us to rid the mayor of the blackmail material. In fact,” she sighs heavily and shakes her head, “I am a little fearful of what we will find these photographs to portray. It is possible that our Prince’s colleague happens to derive sexual gratification from watching the suffering of others. I am already of two minds about this…” Lena trails off, and snickers at her own pun. “I suppose it is possible that the mayor simply had some relationship with Amber. The Dirt Merchant videos may have been produced to send to the mayor to produce fear and cooperation from him. Vito, or perhaps his boss, may want to show the mayor that the Prince cannot protect him, that they can get to the ones he is close to, even the ones no one is supposed to know about.” Lena pauses and looks at a tree nearby. “I’d really like to know whether the mayor is a disgusting predator or not before I go on helping his cause. I think maybe I will stop by work and see if he is a customer.”

Dahlia: “It’s not the investigation I worry about. I truly doubt that the Prince has set us along this line of inquiry simply because he wants a photograph. The number of ways he could have gotten such a thing from this girl before she died is mind boggling… the photo may not even exist. I suspect that our inquiries were meant to trigger something in such a way that the Prince and the court could deny any wrong doing, and I worry about your separation from the group because I fear that there are those who will try and harm us. Some one seems to be hunting me for some reason already. It may be nothing, or it may be the first sign of another player in this.”

Lena: “In that case, do you plan on being a pawn in their game, to go to the Domino Room and follow the path that is laid out before us? I suspect we will simply be swept away in the complex of agents and agendas. Without knowledge of what is really going on here we are powerless to truly act. We can only react.” Lena stares at the package, her eyes alight with anger. Her whole life was taken from her, and for what? To instigate some subterranean political conflict between people desperately clinging to their power? She places her hand under her navel and frowns, lips drawn, raging. “Fine. Let’s get going to the damn swamp. I’m feeling self-destructive.”

Dahlia: “I suspect the last group of fledgling to play this game played by the rules laid out for them, and died for their trouble. I have no intention of dying according to someone else’s rules… but we are operating in an information void. Since we don’t know what is going on or who’s information we can trust we need to stick together and keep our eyes and ears open….” “I am all for seeing what is in that box… what the hell is taking David so long?”OOC- I have an object to show your characters. It was the only thing Dahlia has of Amber’s that she didn’t recognize. Remind me of this at the game please? (while on her own Dahlia got Amber’s belongings from Butterfly)

For Chris: (from Dahlia)
Our plan (at the moment, and if I understand correctly)
1. Go into the swamp and open the box.
2. On the way there show everyone the thingy Dahlia has that Amber had that Dahlia didn’t recognize.
3. Deal with whatever happens when we open the box.
After that we might:
4. Go to the Domino room?
5. Go collect some corpses?
6. Go feed Oscar’s fish (fluffy?)?
But I doubt that things will work out that smoothly. I’m expecting the contents of the box to surprise us and make our unlives more difficult.

Lena: This sounds correct, except that feeding fluffy will be just Lena and maybe one other PC. Just bc I cannot think of a reason everyone would want to follow me around on such an errand.
Dahlia: I was thinking we could all go, pack fluffy in my trunk and you could take the entire tank home so as to not worry about this again.

David: going to the swamp is a bad idea, its been compromised fuck that fish who names a gold fish fluffy anyway, let him float belly up.

Dahlia: The swamp is huge. Like… The entire area around the city? How can that be compromised? And if you didn’t like the plan why didn’t you come back to the car and contribute?

David: i have been with you whole time, and anytime David trys to add to any of the decision makeing he is ignored

Dahlia OOC: You specifically said “I do not go back to the car”. We are sitting in the car. How can you be with us? From your posts I didn’t think you were trying to participate in the decision making. I thought you were sitting in some dark alley by yourself sewing a UPS logo onto the back of your coat.

David OOC: before we ended the game last week I said that i’m not getting back “IN” the car. and I’ve been trying participate in the decision makeing, but no one seems to care about what I have to say.I’ve been standing outside, next to your car this time.

David: What Think we should do, Is what I’ve been saying this whole time. We have a mission from our Prince. We need to complete that mission. and do whatever it takes (within the laws of the masquerade) to do so. Fuck all this running errands and shit. We are undead, We are powerful beings. I say we use that strength. If you all want to be a pawn your doing a great job of that as it is. but if you all want to make a name for yourself, well….. not so much.

Dahlia: “That is an incredibly shortsighted view, and I don’t even see how we could achieve it. Who or what do you propose we use our strength against? How do you propose that we maintain the masquerade while doing so? What do you think we should do with this box while ‘fucking all this running errands and shit’? When I asked for ideas and proposed my plan I was not asking for people’s world views. I was asking for a concrete set of action as far as what we should do next. I do not see any of that in your proposal mon compagnon idiote”

David OOC: Forgive me Trava (Dahlia’s player) you know that I love ya hun, but the only thing that I see that is shortsighted is your view that only your way will work. A)What to do about the box? If you want to see whats in the box, get out of your car, put it on your hood and open it. Its not a bomb… Its a message to someone. B) Right now, We dont need to concern ourselfs so much with Mob dealings unless said mob dealings interfer directly with our mission at hand. And I have yet to see any real proof that they do. C) The last few gameing sessions where we have tried to workout our plans and set of actions, when ever I have tried to speak up and say anything I am constantly talked over and any idea that I throw out is immediately dismissed D) If in our search of our goals, we have to brake any of the rules of the masquerade, I can think many ways that we can cover it up. thus maintaining the masquerade. (Yes I am aware of “OUR” fuck up in the swamp with the FBI agent) however fixing said fuck up is more imporant right now to maintain the masquerade (as orderd by our prince) than running stupid errands for a Giovanni none the less… E) Our first order of business should and always be upholding the Masquerade. and takeing care of the bodies in the morgue!!!

Katrina OOC: … I already determined that the bodies were in the hands of the regional FBI team, in New Orleans. So, are you suggesting that we leave behind all the rest of our potential problems and invade another prince’s territory to try and get into an FBI-run morgue to take care of those bodies? And Denny, we aren’t immediately dismissing every idea that you come up with just because you come up with it. I have listened to every thing that you have said, and the reason that I have “dismissed” it is because I do not agree with any of your ideas or suggestions thus far. I have absolutely no idea to recover the picture, because the last lead that we had was to find Amber herself, and we found her dead body in Vito Giovanni’s warehouse, and Vito claimed that he did not have her effects and that she was dropped off, but we do not know who dropped us off. The only other lead we had was that Ellum and Cage visited the gas station and asked for Amber’s purse before we did, so for all we know, they have had the picture this whole time and we are on a wild goose chase anyway. The fact that the last set of new childer did not survive their testing should make it obvious to you that there is more to this situation than the (what seemed to be) simple task of recovering a photograph of the mayor with a stripper, and I think that you are being completely short sighted. Also, as both a player and a PC, I absolutely do not suggest that we open Vito’s box anywhere that the public can see. I don’t think that it is a bomb, but I am positive that it is affected by necromantic magic, and only a complete idiot would open a box full of necromancy on the street in front of dozens of human witnesses. AGH, and we do not know who dropped her off (as in Amber), so we don’t know who might have her stuff.

David OOC?: Never mind, just do what ever and I’ll come along for the ride.

Dahlia OOC: Dude. Dahlia JUSTASKEDDAVID to present her with some other line of inquiry. I’m guessing that you want him to say "we go after the bodies, now, toss that box in a dumpster or some shit and lets move, but one of the problems you are having with us completely dismissing your suggested plans of action is that (as far as I am aware) you haven’t actually presented one. I laid out exactly what I think we should do next. I am asking you to do the same. What, exactly, are you proposing that we do next?

Katrina OOC: If you actually have a specific plan for how to get into the FBI morgue in New Orleans and get the agent’s body, or how to recover the photograph – as in where to go or who to talk to or what to look for, I’d love to hear it, but I don’t have any idea how to do either of those things right now, so I abandoned them as options until I acquire further data.

Dahlia OOC: I’m with Monica. I haven’t got the faintest idea of where to go next as far as the picture and I have only vague idea of how to handle getting the bodies back. If you have some plan I want to hear it.

David OOC? Ic?: The FBI agent is not the only body that we have to worry about for one. We also are suppose to clear up the other bodies. Yes the FBI agent being in another city is a problem, however we do still have our orders. As far as Amber goes (did anyone take pics) she has to have friends, if someone did in fact drop her off then we need to find that person next. I say we go ruff up venny and get what info we need from him and cut threw the bullshit. he know way more than hes going to tell us unless he has something to lose. and the same goes for anyone else who gets in our way.

Dahlia: (Venny?) “Do you mean Vito? The Giovanni mob boss with a dozen goons, two of whom were hard for us to handle? The one who completely dominated Lena without any effort? The one everyone in the court has been warning us to stay away from? You want to start a war with him over information he may or may not have, may or may not give us, and almost certainly will lie about after trashing our asses? How could we possibly trust anything he said even if we got him to talk? Do you have some power that enables you to force people to tell the truth?”

Katrina OOC: My notes indicate that all of the bodies are in the possession of the FBI at their morgue at the field office in New Orleans and the investigation is headed by Officer Lundy. The Prince told us that acquiring the picture is first base, acquiring the bodies is second base and he implied that there was a third base, but did not indicate what that base was. We already spoke to Amber’s roommate/bff at the Forbidden Fruit. One of the only people that we know is associated with Amber that we have not spoken to (I believe) is her boyfriend Eddy, so that’s really the only other option we have as far as contacts of Amber’s. We are almost positive that Eddie Bohn is also tied in with some branch of the Mob. I don’t know if anyone would know who dropped Amber off, since Amber is too dead for us to ask and I don’t think that Vito had a camera out front to review (if he would even let us). Who is Venny? If by “Venny,” you mean Vito, what makes you think that we have the skills to take on Vito Giovanni? He is at least 100 years old. Even if you count our mortal lives, none of us are older than 40, and not a single one of us has even been a vampire for a year.Trying to beat the shit out of anyone who gets in our way is a bad idea for two very obvious reasons: 1. Only two members of our party are combatants. All 3 females have largely non-combat skills and Disciplines. 2. We are neonates. We are peons. We will be lucky to win any fight against an older vampire or vampires, and every fight we get into ends up filling the area around us with collateral damage, including dead mortals, particularly mortals dead in ways that break the masquerade. Using our Disciplines in any public place to win a fight breaks the masquerade. Starting a fight of any kind is liable to break the masquerade because of who and what we are.

David: No not him, I have the wrong name, my bad, the guy that we cleaned up the underage hooker for.

Katrina: You think we should beat up Freddie Pertucci?

David: I didn’t say beat him up, I said ruff him up, Yes Freddie Pertucci, Thank you you and ruff someone up without laying a hand on them. One idea I have for him is useing the dead underage hooker against him. Who have a good sudterfuge?

Katrina: Mara already used the dead underage hooker against him, to get him to give us the information about Vito’s boss, the actual head of the Italian Mob, and the fact that the mob boss eats dinner every Thursday evening at The Vine and that tonight he is entertaining a special guest from New Orleans. Saying that you want to “rough somebody up” regardless of the spelling implies that you want to use force or the threat of force or pain to make someone talk, usually by hitting and kicking them a lot. Maybe it’s just me, but that’s how I use the term… Dahlia has the best subterfuge, if it is relevant.

Dahlia OOC: Lena had an in-depth with Freddie at the end of the last game. While I don’t think we have every bit of information he knows about anything, I’m fairly sure we know everything he knows about Amber. He didn’t take her to the warehouse, just gave her the business card and an address. I suspect Left-over knows quite a bit about her financial woes, and may know the location of her necklace, but I doubt he was the one who dropped her off at the warehouse. She was likely with a client, trying to make her money the old fashioned way and went to the warehouse because that wasn’t working or because her John was a vamp and told her to. Sending a girl to Vito would be a good way to get rid of her when you were done with her.

Katrina: You also suggested that her boyfriend Eddie might have dropped her off, Trava. So there is that possibility, particularly if Eddie is a part of the Italian mob like all the other guys whose names end in an “ee” sound (Joey, Tommy, Freddie, Frankie, Sammy…)

Dahlia: Yes. Eddy may have dropped her off, and Eddy may be attached to the mob, though the fact that he was looking so hard for her would seem to indicate that he either 1 didn’t know what Vito does at that warehouse, 2 isn’t associated with Vito or 3 had no clue that Amber went to Vito. Also, Eddy gave Oscar the creeps, and Oscar had almost certainly spoken to a huge number of creepy people… this indicates a bit of supernatural heritage to me… Perhaps Werewolves? We know there are some around. Basically, almost anyone could have dropped her off, Anime Guy, Eddy, the gook who works at the Vine, someone we haven’t even heard of yet. I went back over Amber’s stuff with Chris and I don’t have a day planner or anything. I could hit up Butterfly again, see if she knew any of Amber’s ‘clients’ and what she was doing on the day in question, since we now know more specifics… but I think I’ve gotten everything I she had out of her already. It’s kind of a long shot idea.

David: again, you guys can just do whatever, and i’ll come along for the ride… if thats what makes everyone happy then fine. thats what I’ll do

Dahlia: Come up with an alternative plan of action even a vague one. We go to the Morgue. David and Lena skulk about and identify the poor sop mortuary assistant who is on midnights. Dahlia isolates and Presences him into telling us all about security and where the bodies are. We take that information and use it to commit grand theft corpse… Something we can work with.